Matt Baker
Matt Baker (born 11/07/1990) is a British professional wrestler signed to BAW, UAW and is the founder and head male trainer of the Victory Academy, where he performs under his birth name. He is best known for his tenure in WAW where he was a former 3x WAW champion. He is a former 3x BAW champion and the current BAW heritage champion in his first reign. BIOGRAPHY: OFFLINE WAW Matt began his career through WAW back in its 'offline' days where he won his debut match against Lee Akira on ep3, on ep4 when the first offline champ was crowned he was the 4th man eliminated from a 6 man battle royal won by Lee Akira. time went by and on ep9 he won a number one contenders match against Roberto De Marco for a shot at Akira's WAW offline title when WAW moved over to its new channel. in WAW's last match in its original format Matt teamed up with Mark Phoenix in a winning effort against Aaron york and Lee Akira pinning Aaron. On 'WAWHD' - WAW's offline show on their new channel, Matt pinned Lee off of the reverb to win the WAW offline championship and subsequently became its last holder. ONLINE WAW When WAW made the transition to an online league, Matt was at the beginning the only original in the company (with Aaron York returning at a later date), it was because of this Matt took the reigns of the company and became showdowns general manager, throughout his tenure as gm he always kept fan demand in mind and did his best to put on as good a show as possible. CHARISMA IS DEAD When showdown closed its doors in late 2014 the WAW board of directors decided to release Matt from his managerial role in the hope of him being gone for good so they could start a 'clean slate'. What they didn't realise was Matt because of the contract he signed in offline WAW was still contracted as a competitor in WAW. when hearing about is termination as gm, Matt snapped, everything he stood for i.e. the C.O.C and his moniker was dropped and removed as he saw it as nothing more as what the company that tried to remove him had built him up to be. When it came for him to return to company he sought out the help of a fellow brit in Alex J Arik to help him in his plan to take down the company, the newly created 'cruel britannia' would then send shockwaves through WAW when they managed to insert Matt into the WAW championship match at shockwave by taking advantage of Ariks debut to insert Matt into the qualifiers. Matt soon found himself in KAPOW where his offline championship he had won a long time ago became his own sanctioned championship renamed as the retro WAW title ENTER THE ANTIVENOM/DEVIL After WAW folded for the second time prior to their shockwave cpv, Matt's ego grew tenfold having claimed the companies death as his own personal victory as well as claiming the WAW world title as his own seeing as the title match he was scheduled in never took place. All these events began to take a toll on his psyche as he developed a god complex - he saw himself as a person who should rule whatever company he walked into (hence his phrase 'rule or be ruled') while also cleansing that company of whatever he considered a blemish or 'poison' donning the 'antivenom' moniker. A1/X1 (the devil has risen) Months after the fall of WAW, a new promotion called A1 wrestling purchased the rights to the WAW name as a way of 'carrying on the legacy' and in the process signed multiple WAW alumni including Matt. In an un televised show Matt became the inaugural A1 champion winning a battle royal to claim that title. On the first episode of A1 exhibition Matt successfully defended his title against Jak Starran; throughout the period between WAW's collapse and A1's rise Matt's demeanour changed yet again, similar to how in his C.O.C days he idolised Captain Charisma Christian, he began to idolise and embody 'the villain' Marty Scurll, going so far as to grow his beard out and adopting Scurll's crossface chickenwing. While still referring to himself as the AntiVenom he adopted a new moniker - the devil. when interviewed about why he chose to be known as the devil he answered "i have embraced hate, i have embraced anger, embracing these emotions has allowed me to become evil enough to embrace... the devil". Eventually A1 decided to perform a brand split, becoming X1 and P1, by being the A1 champ Matt was inserted into the X1 title match again against Starran this time however the WAW title was thrown into the equation; Matt would ultimately win on EP5 becoming a double world champion in the process. In X1 Matt saw potential in multiple members of the roster including X1 womens champion Heather Spades and a tag team called the red hoods who have yet to debut on a televised show. Matt took these individuals and formed a faction known as 'the coalition' - derived from an old faction he once led called the C.O.C (coalition of charisma). BAW and the Victory academy with X1 being on a somewhat hiatus, Matt used this time to 'give back' to a business which although he had sought to wreak havoc in it still provided him with his dream occupation and a means to encounter numerous people/ experiences he wouldn't have met/had otherwise. Baker created the Victory academy in England which trained new wrestlers and became the feeder system to a new promotion called BAW, working on the premise of how the progress dojo feeds progress. It was in the promotion Baker claimed more world titles becoming a 3x British Heavyweight champion. Although he still uses the devil/antivenom moniker he has since toned down the extremism of it showing more respect to competitors and companies as having his own academy gave him the reality check he needed. He lately has started to wear kanji on his wrestling tights standing for 'the devil', this was inspired by a tour of Asia which was a huge contributor to him creating the Victory Academy as he was so impressed by the way people over there would learn, train and compete. As a part owner of BAW Baker used the promotion to showcase talent he felt needed the spotlight they deserved, people like the Victory champion Owen Fletcher, Project: Revival, his protege Madison Beauchamp and the newly crowned 2x BAW British Womens champion Angel Warren. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **crown of thorns - crossface chickenwing (2016-present) **fate spinner - final cut (2016-present) **overkill - 630 senton (used very rarely - mania style finish) **nightmare on baker street - curtain call (2014-present) **the reverb - flatliner (2008-2014) *'Signature moves' **sniper kick (adopted from alex j arik) (2015 - present) **quick drop... sudden stop - punt kick (2015- early 2016) **bring the rain - rainmaker (early 2016 - late 2016) **poetry in violent motion - BFT (late 2016 - present) **shot package dropkick - basement dropkick **bakers dozen - lucky 13 (2015) *'Managers' **Heather Spades (late 2015 - present) **The forgotten *'Wrestlers/factions managed' **The Forgotten **Heather Spades **The coalition **Cruel Britannia *'Nicknames' **The devil **'The anti-venom' **The code of charisma **'The king of spades' *'Entrance themes' **corner - blue stahli **the fall - blue stahli **the devil - blue stahli **scrape - blue stahli **shoot em up - blue stahli (current) Championships and accomplishments *'WAW' **WAW champion (3 times) *'A1/X1' **A1/X1 champion (1 time) *'BAW' **BAW champion (3 times) **BAW heritage champion (1 time, current) Category:Wrestler Category:Superstar